“Be the change you wish to see in the world…”
-Gandhi

History

SAAV was founded by Jane Piper, an actor, writer, events producer,
and sexual assault survivor. After being brutally beaten and raped
by a stranger in the summer of 2003, the Los Angeles Police Department
successfully recovered her assailant’s DNA but sadly had no luck finding
him.

With time passing and no new leads, Jane was told there was nothing
to be done for her case but wait for it to happen to someone else.
Waiting for another woman’s suffering was not how Jane was going to
heal and it was certainly not going to help prevent further violence.
Instead, she took action. Having experienced many system inefficiencies
first hand, Jane’s hope is to provide a new level of support not presently
available to sexual assault survivors.

As Jane began her healing, she was discouraged by the complete absence
of programs where survivors could come together to express themselves,
their experiences, and together create something positive. Jane spent
many years as an activist, using art and creative expression of all
kinds as a tool to spread awareness of difficult and controversial
issues. It was her vision from early on to turn this terrible experience
into a lesson in compassion and self discovery and she knew there
were many more women like her who were looking to do the same thing.Empowering
women to rid themselves of the shame and secrecy that surrounds rape
will hopefully create a new population of women strengthened by their
experience instead of victimized.

SAAV is aproject of Community
Partners, a non-profit charity
exempt from federal tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue
Code.
Contributions are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.